Gulls at Brown's Station Landfill

Miliff@aol.com
Tue, 5 Jan 1999 21:16:10 EST


Hello all,

A quick trip to several landfills today produced the following results:

Calvert County Landfill (about 4 mi north of Solomon's off Rte. 4)

- 1 ad. Lesser Black-backed Gull

Charles County Landfill (about 5 mi S of Rte. 301 on Rte. 5, look for signs)

- 1 ad. and 1 first-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull

Brown's Station Landfill (off Brown's Station Rd. N of Upper Marlboro, PG
County)

- 1 2nd-winter Glaucous Gull (very pale, washed out, pale eye, pink bill w/
back tip)
- 1 1st-winter Iceland Gull 
- 1 1st-winter Lesser Black-backed Gull
- 1 Snow Goose (white ad.) with about 200 Canadas

Unfortunately NO Laughing Gulls at any of the landfills, which is what I was
really hoping for.   Most surprising was the fact that 50% of the Lessers were
first-winters.  I have been looking hard at Landfills now for years, and have
only rarely seen first-winters in winter.  It seems that birds of the year
pass through in October and November, then disappear for a while, reappearing
in March on northbound passage.  Last year despite much looking I saw none
between Nov and March, and suspect that almost all winter well to the south of
us and are seen here primarily in migration (and of course, in summer on Hart-
Miler Island...).  Ned Brinkley recently reported 18/21 Lesser Black-backeds
at the Virginia Beach Landfill were first-winters.  Perhaps we can blame it on
the mild year (though we may soon need to stop blaming stuff on the mild year,
and start blaming it on the cold year...).

Also of interest were 8 Snow Geese (a high count) and 2 small race Canada
Geese (one definitely _hutchinsii_) with the large Canada Goose flock at
Greenock Rd. (Rte. 259), about 4 mi north of the Rte. 4 & 258 intersection.

Good birding,

Marshall Iliff
miliff@aol.com